Love Actually
by wouldtheywriteasongforyou
Summary: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... Ten intertwining winter holiday stories about how all you need is love. For Melody.


**Author's Note:  
>Disclaimer<strong>: **I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need... for you to know that these characters do not belong to me. **

The only magic in these snapshots is the magic of the holiday season. That being said, obviously this is a muggle!au and the wizarding war(s) did not happen.

Happy birthday to my queen, Taylor Swift! She's a quarter of a century old today... And happy consecutive date day! Updates for this story will come every other day until New Year's Eve of 2014. That means ten chapters in total(!) and ten intertwining stories based on ten Christmas songs. Oh my.

Written for the Secret Santa fic exchange on HPFC. I am so blessed to be able to write for _Melody (MelodyPond77)_ who's an absolute angel.

Happy holidays xoxo

13 December 2014. Word Count: 984

**He'd see her soon enough, just like the pink-haired stranger had promised.**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Love Actually<span>**

i. Happy Xmas (War is Over)

[-]

Today was the day.

James Potter looked online to check, double-check, and triple-check the boarding pass. When he was sure that the estimated time of arrival had not changed, he speed-showered and lightly put on some cologne. Then he dressed himself in khaki slacks and a navy blue sweater over a button-down shirt. He glanced in the mirror and frantically attempted to straighten his unruly black hair. Giving up, he rushed out the door and began the drive to Heathrow Airport.

It had been a year since Lily had been stationed in South Korea. She had been one of the lucky ones and was recently granted leave to come home for the winter holidays. James was damn proud of his girlfriend for serving their country but in her absence he had missed her terribly. In an attempt to speed up time, he stepped on the accelerator and kept a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel the entire way to the aeroport.

At Heathrow, he parked, scooped up the bouquet of flowers, and made a mad dash inside to check the departure/arrival screens to see if he was still on time to meet Lily at her gate.

"Bugger it all to hell!" he swore when he saw the screen. Neon letters next to Lily's flight number tauntingly flashed FLIGHT HAS BEEN DELAYED.

"Sorry, mate," a woman with bubblegum pink hair said apologetically. "The blizzard is delaying most of the flights tonight."

James blinked. "Blizzard?" In his haste, he hadn't even noticed the weather outside. He looked outside the aeroport window and noticed for the first time that it was snowing outside. He reached up into his hair and realised the wet strands had frozen over.

"You'll see your loved one soon enough," the woman promised. "Wotcher, mate. Be thankful. That's more than many others will be able to say this holiday season. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," James echoed as she walked away from the screens. He looked up to see if her plane's status had changed. It hadn't.

James clutched his flowers and made his way over to Lily's gate, anyway. Heathrow was crazy busy this Christmas Eve, what with the numerous holiday travellers, layovers, and delayed flights. Somehow, he managed to snag one of the few available faux leather waiting seats. And that's all James could do until Lily's flight came in: he could only wait. And wait. And wait.

He was anxious, though. He thought he already did his waiting. A whole year of it without Lily in their cold and empty flat.

Twelve Christmas songs later, James had graciously given up his seat to an elderly couple who were waiting for their son to come home. With standing came an onslaught of nerves. He looked at the bouquet of stargazer lilies he had a death-grip clutch on. James forced his fingers to relax and made himself take a deep breath. He'd see her soon enough, just like the pink-haired stranger had promised.

Even so, James couldn't stop himself from anxiously shifting his weight from one foot to another and compulsively checking his wristwatch. Lily had given him the glossy black Rolex for his birthday the week before she left for South Korea, he remembered. He wished the watch had a hand that would show him Lily's whereabouts instead of the time.

Twenty-three Christmas songs and a Starbucks peppermint mocha later, James began pacing. He rubbed a hand over his jaw as he alternated staring at the departure/arrival screen and his watch. Although he knew it would not work while she was in the air, James had called Lily's mobile a few times; he'd simply wanted to hear her voice again, even if it meant listening to the same recorded voice message over and over.

Suddenly, there was an increase in activity at gate #18. One quick glance at the screen confirmed that the DELAYED announcement had been replaced with ARRIVED. Almost immediately afterwards, the rumble of the jets could be heard. A small crowd formed at the gate's entrance. James desperately wanted to go up there and be the first face Lily saw when she walked off the plane but he knew that she would be comfortable if they reunited in a less claustrophobic area of the terminal. He purposefully hung back and began unconsciously gripping the flowers tightly once more. Any minute now. His year of waiting was almost done.

One by one, the passengers of flight #1213 left the gate and were immediately swept up into family members' hugs and kisses. James stood on his tiptoes and craned his neck as he searched for her ginger hair.

He spotted her British army greens. She was talking to and laughing with another soldier, one with long red hair and a long white scar raking across his face, and James' heart filled with jealousy that he desperately tried to erase. He knew that Lily loved him and him only. This was proven when Lily saw him: she stopped her conversation with the soldier and immediately ran into James' arms.

James lifted her up and spun her around, just like he had done when they were young kids and crazy with love. He burrowed his face into the side of her neck and pressed kisses all along the column of her throat. "I love you. You're back," he murmured. "You're home."

She nodded and wiped her eyes when he finally set her down. "James," she said. She kept her arms looped around his neck and her toes were stepping on his but he wouldn't have it any other way.

This was familiar. This was how it should always be and how he wanted to spend the rest of his life: with her, forever and always.

"I love you," she sobbed while she sought out his lips. Lily needed his kisses as much as she needed oxygen to breathe. "I love you. Merry Christmas."

[-]


End file.
